B2B Day 31 Bibury to Whelford: An Outstanding Lunch, a Beautiful Church, and a Medley of Anthems

Bibury Church

For an OS map of today's walk (8.21 mi; 13.21 km; 305 ft total ascent), click here.

On today's walk we continued our journey along the Coln valley. Our little Airbnb studio annexe was cute and even in the somewhat small bed we slept well—until I woke at 6:00 a.m. when the motorcycle outside started up and revved its engine. Surprisingly, Ken was able to sleep until 6:15. We gratefully ate the pastries that were left for our breakfast, and enjoyed attending morning prayer at Eyam church "live" on Facebook rather than our usual attendance 7 hours later when we're at home. We got going around 9:40, and enjoyed passing the lambs again. It was somewhat cold but otherwise a bright beautiful morning.

We hadn't gone into the church yesterday, so we walked down to it, and really liked its brightness and lightness. We sang the always triumphant hymn "Rejoice, the Lord is King" just before a group of walkers entered the church to look around. As we were heading out of the village, we asked a man putting a bike into his vehicle if we could get out to the bridleway from there by cutting through a narrow alleyway which we weren't sure was public. Even though he wasn't local, he told us that he thought we could, so we did, saving both time and a climb. We walked the slight downhill path to the river, enjoying the little falls of the weir at the mill.

One of the brave sheep of Bibury

After crossing the Coln there, we walked up and over a hill, passing a very beautiful house, with many sheep dotting the pastures all around. We were surprised that sheep laying right next to the dirt farm road on which we were walking seemed quite tame and not very skittish at all. Given how many tourists visit Bibury, perhaps they're just used to people walking close by...

The path took us up a steep hill, then we headed eastwards, generally parallel to the river on a forested hill above it. We walked along a field edge where a man was riding a tractor and spraying his crops (thankfully not near us), then headed downhill and along the left path at a fork to rejoin the river. The paths here were a bit muddy at times but we were able to get through with no repeat of Ken's "day two disasters." 😜 The river walk was pleasant, and all was peaceful and quiet. 

Bridge to Narnia?

At one point we saw a footbridge with a door in it, which seemed rather odd. I wondered if the door would take you to Narnia if you walked through it, but we didn't test it. The river was flowing quickly, but was quiet and peaceful. We were relieved that we didn't encounter any flooding, even when our grassy path came quite close to the water's edge.

We did a bit more woodland and then eventually came out to a road where stone wall provided us with a seat to rest on, trying to decide whether to go north to Coln St. Aldwyn's or head south to Quenington for lunch. A friendly couple came by who offered advice, and she kindly looked up on her phone the hours and menu at the Keeper's Arms in Quenington. Although we and the couple walked separately up the hill and into Quenington, we still encountered each other periodically as we were walking in the same direction, and had a few brief chats along the way. Before we reached the Keeper's Arms, we looked inside a converted phone booth that had all kinds of local information, including a leaflet on "River Valley Walks" that indicated a permissive path to Fairford that Ken hadn't known about. He was very happy to discover this path since it would save almost three miles of road walking. (More than a mile or two of road walking in firm-soled hiking boots can get rather painful, especially for Ken.) 

Costwold vernacular architecture, Quenington-style

Quenington itself was, like virtually all of the villages we'd seen so far, full of old and interesting buildings, both domestic and agricultural, which were built in the Cotswold vernacular style. When we got to the pub, we sat inside and ordered hummous with croustes and chicken escalope with a salad of chorizo, potatoes, and herbs. The chicken came with pesto mayo, and the salad was amazing. I wrote in my journal, "It was one of the best lunches we've ever had." It sounds like the type of food that we would usually describe as "foofy" (I've never spelt that word before!), but it was an example of slightly fancy food that was outstandingly delicious—worthy of slightly elevated language. The publican also had a delightfully dry sense of humour. We loved the decor and enjoyed the background music, which we learned was by Donovan Woods. We left around 1:15 p.m., well satisfied and well rested, ready for our walk down to Fairford. 

Along the Coln between Quenington and Fairford

On the permissive path

Soon after we left the village we met a tall younger man with a smile and two dogs, who just seemed happy and enjoying the day. He passed us again later, walking back. I was holding the "River Valley Walks" leaflet, and when we were walking a stretch down by the river Ken asked me to read the directions. He looked extremely puzzled as I read, and said that it didn't at all match where we were. He asked, "Are you sure you're reading the right walk?" and I realized I was reading directions for another walk entirely. We were in the right place, as we quickly recognized once I began reading the correct directions!  

We went up through some woods, out into a field, and just before reaching a road turned left into another wood along a permissive path courtesy of the Ernest Cook Trust, which owns much of the land immediately north of Fairford. (This is the path Ken didn't know about until we found the leaflet in Quenington.) The paths through the woodland were lovely. There were a few short muddy sections but we got through them without any problems. The way eventually led out of the trees and then seemed to go on, forever southwards, along the edge of a ploughed dirt field. At one end of the field, a machine was harrowing. (How often do you get to use "harrowing" as a verb rather than an adjective?) It grew hot and a bit uncomfortable in the mid-afternoon sun, but we did get occasional glimpses of what was to come, including a nice view of Fairford Mill and Church not that far away.

Approaching Fairford Mill and Church

Entering Fairford

We finally reached the exit gate of the field, crossed a small tributary stream of the Coln, turned right and popped through a door in the old Oxpens building—and violà! we were suddenly on the edge of Fairford. We rested on a bench at the Oxpens, which had some informative historical panels, and then walked over the bridge by the pretty millpond into the main part of the town and soon arrived at Fairford church—famous for its medieval stained glass. Fairford was also the birthplace of John Keble, one of the founders of the 19th century Oxford Movement within the Anglican church. We would encounter more places associated with Keble in a few days.

This late medieval church, rebuilt in the perpendicular style in the late 15th and early 16th century by wealthy wool merchant John Tame and his son Edmund, is well-known for its complete set of original stained glass windows which tell the biblical story from Genesis to Revelation—each window a vignette from scripture or tradition. The 28 windows, whose installation was finished by 1517, were quite compelling to view, but they and the heavy buttressing of the central tower made the church fairly dark inside when the sun wasn't out. 

Jesus and "Doubting Thomas"

Ascension and Pentecost

We enjoyed "reading" the windows, making our way from west to east along the north wall, with the Passion and Crucifixion making up the east window. We then turned back from east to west along the south wall, beginning with the Resurrection and Ascension and ending with the Last Judgment in the west window, which shows Christ as Judge, sitting on a rainbow. Another fascinating window shows the Ascension, with Christ's feet rising out of the top of the scene! Many of the other windows were similarly whimsical, profound, or otherwise fascinating. They were so interesting that rather than take a picture of each one we bought the church guidebook to take home.

When the church was empty, we sang "Amazing Grace" and then went outside. Ken was taking a photo of a gargoyle on the church roof, and a woman walking by asked if he was taking a picture of the bees! She said that there was a bee hive up there, and the bees had gotten inside the church last year. She accidentally sat on one just before the sermon, but managed not to cry out. We were glad we didn't encounter bees inside the church, though we had heard them humming.

The Last Judgment, the west window in St. Mary's Church, Fairford

 

We then walked down the block to Fairford's central square, which was compact and bustling in the late afternoon. We were heading to the Co-Op for supplies when we saw our server from the Catherine Wheel in Bibury (the one who brought us our sauces and called us "my dears") park her car and get out with her two children. She ended up ahead of us in the line at the Co-Op but she didn't recognize us. Because Whelford doesn't have a pub and it was too early to eat dinner in Fairford, we bought sandwiches, ginger biscuits, and a punnet of strawberries for dinner. Then I went to the smallest Boots pharmacy I've ever been in to buy some sunscreen. We really liked Fairford; it had lots of shops & places to eat and was quite busy, but as a town it still felt friendly and not too big. 

On the river path

We left at 4:15 p.m., winding our way through some alleys between houses and then for a short time walking on a lovely path by the river Coln, a path that Ken had found out about while watching a YouTube walking video in the winter. (You can find it here.) Unfortunately, our B&B host had warned us beforehand that the river walk to Whelford might be blocked later on as it passed through the Cotswold Water Park where a lot of development work was in progress, so we had to take the road instead. We were glad of this local info but a bit sad that the day would end with road walking. So after standing on a footbridge for awhile enjoying the Coln as it slid southeastwards, we left the river, passed a Catholic church, and got going on the two mile walk down the road to Whelford.

A lot of the land between Fairford and Whelford is covered by Royal Air Force Base Fairford, which we discovered was shared by the RAF and the US Air Force as we passed its gates. We were surprised at 4:55 p.m. to hear a trumpet tune played over loud speakers, then a band playing "God Save the King," which I sang as we walked, and then, suprisingly, "The Star Spangled Banner" (!) which we both sang. It felt odd singing the American anthem while walking in the English countryside. It also felt odd singing "God Save the King" when my whole life it had been "God Save the Queen." [Finally, it felt both odd and nice to sing the American anthem and once again realise that the words—inspired by witnessing the British attack on Baltimore during the War of 1812—no longer describe relations between the UK and the US!—Ken]

Thankfully we had a pavement (sidewalk) for most of the way into Whelford since at the end of the workday there were a fair amount of cars on the road. We stopped for a "foot rest" at the pretty little church at Whelford, but unfortunately it was locked. Soon after that we arrived at Townsend Farmhouse. Penny welcomed us and showed us our lovely room and bath, and arranged for breakfast the next morning. Our evening was wonderfully relaxed, with our simple dinner (the strawberries were excellent, and we were surprised that they were relatively local, very high-quality berries that you could just pick up at a local supermarket). Interestingly, we had been at Baldwin House when they had experienced a water cut-off; Townsend Farmhouse had also recently experienced a water cut-off, so we were forewarned that the pipes might splutter a bit when we had our baths. There was no problem, and we enjoyed a hot bath and then some time reading in bed—Ken reading the AA Book of Walks in the Cotswolds that was conveniently placed in our room. All in all, it was another fairly easy day of walking, with excellent food, friendly people, and a peaceful B&B at the end of the day.

 

Lovely Townsend Farmhouse